Don’t Make Locals Pay
The CSU trustees have decided to wait two months before seizing farmland near Camarillo for a new campus because they want to ensure that local governments (that’s us) would foot the bill for water, sewer and road improvements in the area. David Leveille, CSU director of institutional relations, arrogantly stated, “We’re not the big banker in the sky.”
What this bureaucrat really meant is that he expects our financially devastated local governments to fund infrastructure that benefits the state more than the city or county. This is a time of crisis. County government is laying off workers and the city of Camarillo is making deep surgical cuts in its budget.
It is sheer folly to propose laying the burden on our local citizens. Yet our county and city officials disregard fiscal responsibility and common sense and continue to pursue the building of this massive campus that has been rejected at other locations and has come to roost in the greenbelt of Camarillo.
Does it make sense to spend huge sums on this project with its impact of 20,000 additional residents while cutting back on police and health services?
BILL SUPRI, Camarillo
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